Latest - Decades: 2020s

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Professor Sir Ian Diamond first encountered a computer as a student at the London School of Economics the mid-1970s. He learnt Fortran and submitted programs on punched cards. “But we never actually used computers to analyse data,” he says.

Computers are now crucial to Sir Ian’s role as the UK’s national statistician, and principal adviser to the UK Statistics Authority and the Government. The task involves using the latest AI, machine learning and textual analysis to tackle some of the thorniest current social and economic challenges.

From the beginning, Sir Ian was interested in the application of statistics to social science, demographics and survey data. Statistics have had a bad press, he says, but when they are rigorous and well put together they are increasingly reliable and powerful. For example, they have recently helped discover how the coronavirus is impacting people disproportionately in different ethnic groups.

After an MSc at the LSE, Sir Ian took a PhD at St Andrews, where he received “outstanding supervision” looking at the problem of relatively high drop-out rates among Scottish students compared with their English counterparts.

His career has included being chief executive of the Economic and Social Research Council and vice chancellor of the University of Aberdeen. In 2019, he did not take much persuasion to apply for the post of national statistician.

“It has been a total thrill every day since,” he says. “We need to produce data that the public can trust, and to reflect the economy and society at a time when it is changing very quickly.”

Massive technology change has made it possible to think increasingly radically about all kinds of data, and to produce ever more timely and accurate statistics. But it is really important to have a social theory about what you are doing, says Sir Ian. And to communicate properly, explaining assumptions and ensuring that people can understand the level of uncertainty and margin for error.

For those interested in studying statistics, there can be no better career, he says, and the UK has some of the world’s strongest institutions.

Billy D’Arcy

Billy D’Arcy is Chief Executive Officer for BAI Communications group’s UK operation. A global leader in the design, build and operation of communications networks on transport systems, BAI is installing a network-neutral telecoms infrastructure in the London Underground so that mobile users can get the service from whatever network operator they choose. This decades long project involves investment in excess of £1Bn upgrading the technology into 6G and beyond, as well as providing above ground infrastructure for emergency services, traffic management and Wi-Fi.

Billy has spent 30 years in the telecommunications industry at Cable and Wireless in Ireland, O2 and faced keeping his customers served when WorldCom was in Chapter 11. He shares his views on Ireland, building business enterprises, treating people right and what makes a great shareholder.

Professor Jim McLaughlin OBE

Professor James Mclaughlin OBE is working on portable / wearable diagnostic devices that will transform personal healthcare with automatic monitoring of heart rates, blood sugar levels and the like, reporting the results and triggering alerts over mobile . He worked on the team that developed the first external defibrillator and is now the director of the Nanotechnology and Integrated Bioengineering Centre at the University of Ulster. He holds over 30 patents including for the world’s best-selling disposable medical electrode. He has successfully co-founded a set of spin-off companies while raising over £100 million of research funding.

Professor Peter Dobson OBE

Prof Peter Dobson OBE was born during WWII in Liskeard,  Cornwall and led a “net zero carbon existence” for his first 14 years without mains electricity or water. 

After Grammar school, he chose a GPO (General Post Office, now BT) scholarship to take him to university and worked alongside Tommy Flowers.  His broad career has covered a wide range of disciplines from physics and chemistry to materials science and engineering and bridged industry (Philips) and academia (Imperial College and Oxford).  Peter was responsible for creating and building The Begbroke Science Park for Oxford University.

Peter has successfully spun-off numerous companies. His latest, Oxford NanoSystems was formed in 2012. He is currently on the advisory board of several companies involved in nano-materials, healthcare and energy. He was awarded the OBE in 2013 in recognition of his contributions to science and engineering.

Dr Martin Read CBE

Dr Martin Read CBE is credited with the transformation of Logica, from the archetypal British 20th century software house with a headcount of 3,000 largely centred in the UK, to a 21st century dynamic enterprise with a headcount in excess of 40,000 based in over 40 countries. Martin followed the familiar path from grammar-school boy in Basingstoke to Oxford DPhil in Physics via Cambridge. He then deviated from a classic scientific career path and commenced his employment in shipping container logistics, where he applied his intellect to operations and strategic planning and worked abroad.

After a spell in the marine business of International Paint, his commercial and management skills were honed working for Lord Weinstock at GEC, before he was headhunted to Logica. After 14 years in the software industry, Dr Read again switched track and has been in high demand for a diverse portfolio of chair, non-executive director and senior advisory roles in industry and Government. His advice to the next generation is to begin their careers in well-managed organisations and to gain early experience in sales and working abroad .

Rory Cellan-Jones

Rory Cellan-Jones provides a sharp, insightful view of the Tech in the Internet age.  He was a reporter for the BBC for 30 years, initially covering business, which got him interested in the burgeoning business of IT in the 90s.  As the industry developed he met the key players from Bill Gates to and Elon Musk and Steve Jobs and recalls the launch of the iPhone as a masterpiece of PR theatre. He chronicled  the rise and burst of the .com bubble in the UK in his book dot.bomb. 

Now retired from the BBC he has reflected on the exciting and dangerous world of what he calls “the social smartphone era” in his contribution to the archive and in his new book Always On. One of his biggest mistakes, he says, was getting excited about Google Glass, which did not look cool.

Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CBE

Dr Hayaatun Sillem says the value of education and the self-coaching mindset her parents instilled in her as she grew up in west London has been a guiding principle all her life. The desire to make a positive contribution to society has been another key goal.

 Both are values she is pursuing at the Royal Academy of Engineering, where she has been Chief Executive since 2018, leading a team of some 140 staff, and overseeing a budget of more than £50m.

In 2019, the Financial Times named Dr Sillem the 4th most influential woman in UK engineering, and this year Computer Weekly ranked her the 7th most influential woman in tech.

But with a mixed race background, and parents of modest means, her proudest achievement is having stuck with an internal voice of doubt and a sense of differentness. She is a leading voice on diversity and inclusion in and beyond engineering, and co-chaired the Hamilton Commission on improving representation of black people in UK motorsport with Sir Lewis Hamilton.

There is a “massive diversity deficit in engineering,” she says “And this really matters because engineering and technology are everywhere in our lives. The people who develop deliver, maintain and upgrade the products and services we all rely on every day are currently way too unrepresentative of the society they serve. And that is not good for us as a profession.” It is a balance she is striving to redress.

Sir Julian Young

A delight in taking apart and rebuilding his bicycle highlighted Sir Julian Young’s bent for engineering at an early age. “An engineer is someone who is perpetually restless and never content with how things are,” he says. “You are always wanting to do better.”

Would-be engineers also need to be competent at numbers, score good marks in science, and be prepared to keep up-to-date with technology. But as an engineer you have “a job with opportunities for life,” Sir Julian says.  It has certainly proved that way for him. Money was tight when he wanted to study aircraft engineering at university, so he applied for and won sponsorship with the RAF.

Since then, he has enjoyed a 40-year career as an aircraft engineer with the RAF. His experience spans a huge range of aircraft and technology, from the Mk1 Chinook and 1980s’ bombs dropped by gravity used to damage Port Stanley airfield in the Falkland Islands to today’s leading-edge F-35 fighter jet, with its robotics, smart weapons and AI.  Most recently, he was Director General Air within the Defence Equipment & Support organisation in the Ministry of Defence and the RAF’s Chief Engineer.

Sir Julian is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Governor of Bath College and a Trustee of the RAF Charitable Trust. He was awarded a KBE in 2020, a CB in 2013 and an OBE in 2000.  In 2021, he became the 140th President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. His ambition while in post is to push as hard as possible on addressing the challenges of sustainability and climate change.

Vin Murria OBE

Vin Murria is an outstandingly successful serial creator of  ‘Tech Unicorns’, businesses that grow to be valued at over $1Bn.  A key mentor gave her the chance, straight out of university, to run a company and she learned from him the trade of management, acquisition, turnaround and then start-up of her own new businesses.  In conversation with Jane Bird for Archives of IT she talked about how her early life and upbringing equipped her for a career as a Tech Entrepreneur and gave us some insights into how successful companies work and how to build them.  In an industry that struggles to attract its fair share of women, she tells how she achieved her success in spite of (or maybe with the benefit of) the triple challenge of being young, Asian and female, observing that diversity brings many benefits to business.

Richard Jeffery

Richard Jeffery grew up on a farm, but broke with family tradition when he chose to work in software and services. Nevertheless, family discussions around the kitchen table about the farm’s business challenges and opportunities, set him up well for entrepreneurship.

After studying “dull and formulaic” ‘A’ levels in maths, physics and chemistry, Richard loved the economics, philosophy, computing and general systems theory of his degree in systems and management degree.

Since then he has spent his career helping organisations improve operational efficiency while providing the best possible support for their staff. He worked for PA Consulting and Coopers & Lybrand, before joining Organisational Consulting Partnership, a small breakaway team from PAC.

In 2005, Richard co-found ActiveOps, a company focused on Software As A Service and Management Process Automation. Earlier this year, ActiveOps launched on the London Stock  Exchange in an IPO valuing it at almost £120m.

The original flotation, scheduled for February 2020, was called off in the face of Covid-19. But by September of that year, it was apparent that the business was thriving. SaaS revenues were strong — turnover was £20m in 2020 — and the pandemic had focused minds on the importance of management information on operational activities. “It created a pain point and meant our products were hugely appreciated,” says Richard, who is still CEO.

The fact that the IPO proved so popular with investors was a huge vote of confidence in the business, Richard says. Its software is well placed to help organisations cope with the challenges of flexible working.

“The biggest cause of stress is uncertainty. You need to create environment where people feel safe, and know what’s expected of them and when they’ve done a good job.” His mission is to provide a coherent and consistent framework for this to happen.